


nothin’ can keep me from coming home to you

by saltandshore



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, finn is in BIG LOVE, lots of feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21947758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltandshore/pseuds/saltandshore
Summary: Four words shatter Finn’s world apart: Black Leader is down.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 12
Kudos: 499





	nothin’ can keep me from coming home to you

**Author's Note:**

> My first Finn/Poe! Frickin LOVE these two co-general husbands and my heart can’t handle it.

“It’s a two day reconnaissance,” General Organa pulls up a holo map of Gorse and the surrounding area. There’s a destroyer just above atmosphere. “We’re not expecting any action - stay well away and do not engage. Commander Dameron, take two of your squadron. Find what you can, and come home.” 

Poe nods sharply. “Yes ma’am.” 

It makes Finn uneasy, even after all this time. After Starkiller, after everything, he still hates watching Poe leave. 

She sighs, giving them all a smile. “Be ready to fly out at dawn. May the Force be with you.”

-

“It’s only two days,” Poe says, smiling over his shoulder as he grabs his flight suit from the closet. “We’ve been through worse for longer.” 

BB-8 beeps in agreement, dome swivelling between Poe and Finn. 

The latter sighs, sitting heavily on their bed. 

“I know,” he looks up at him. “I just - stars, I hate watching you leave when I’m not going with you.” 

Poe smiles that beautiful crooked smile that seems to only be for Finn, coming over to kneel in front of him. 

“You know I’ll always come home to you,” he murmurs, leaning up to kiss him. “Sure as shit is going to take more than some measly First Order to keep me from you.”

Finn huffs a laugh, fist curled into the worn material of Poe’s shirt. 

“You better, flyboy,” he kisses him again, and once more for good measure. “I don’t know if you heard, but I’m a big deal around here. And I like having you around.”

Poe’s answering smile is enough to light up a whole system. 

-

“Watching them walk away never gets any easier,” General Organa says as they stand on the tarmac. BB-8 loads into Black One, Poe right behind him. 

Finn sighs. “Sure doesn’t. I feel like my stomach is in knots until he gets back.” 

She squeezes his shoulder. “Let’s keep you busy, then. I’ve got some plans I could use your opinion on, and if I’m not mistaken you’re overdue for a holocomm with a certain someone.” 

-

“He’s the best pilot in the galaxy,” Rey says, voice tinny but clear through the hologram. “And it’s just reconnaissance, right? You said yourself they aren’t expecting trouble.” 

Finn purses his lips. “I know what I said, Jedi mind reader. I’m allowed to worry about my boyfriend, thank you very much.” 

She laughs, and her eyes crinkle. Stars, he misses her. 

“I’m so glad he finally did something about the two of you - what was that, almost half a year ago already? - ” she blows a hair off her forehead, eyes crossing. “I was getting sick of hearing you wax poetic about his eyes, and his hair, and the way his pants fit, and -“ 

He holds up his hands, cheeks heating. “Alright, I get it. Don’t you have Jedi stuff to do instead of busting my chops about being in love?” 

She laughs again. “This is way more fun,” she sighs, sobering after a moment. “But seriously, Finn. It’s going to be okay. He always comes back. And if he doesn’t, I’m coming out there to kick his ass myself.” 

-

He doesn’t sleep much the first night, their bed feeling vast and cool without Poe. It still smells like him: metal and oil, laundered fabric, whatever herby stuff he uses to wash his hair, and caf. It smells like home. 

He recalibrates his blasters a few times over, fiddles on a datapad. He misses the soft whir of BB-8 on his charging pad. 

He flops back on their bed. He’s pathetic. He might as well be writing poems at this rate. 

He finally falls asleep though, the two moons of D’Qar lulling him into dreamless rest. 

-

“Finn!” Iolo calls, voice echoing through the mess hall the second morning after another restless night. “We’re expecting comms to come through any second from Black Squadron with intel. The General wants you there!” 

Finn doesn’t even bother clearing his breakfast away, all but vaulting up from the table and jogging down the corridors. 

“General,” he greets when he comes in, heart pounding in his chest. “Any news?”

She smiles, gesturing him to sit. “Commander Dameron, do you copy?”

“Loud and clear,” comes Poe’s voice, and Finn feels like he could burst into a million relieved pieces. “There’s been next to no movement from the destroyer, General. No incoming or outgoing signals, no cruisers or transports in or out. Nothing. We’ve just descended below atmosphere on Gorse to head down for minor repairs and then we’re ready to come home.”

Leia nods, about to press the comm button to relay something else. 

“Black Leader, we’ve got incoming from the destroyer -“ comes Jessika’s voice. “TIES, coming in hot!” 

Finn sits up, stomach dropping. “What?” 

“On my lead!” Poe shouts. “There’s - fuck, there’s got to be twenty - Black squadron, evasive maneuvers!“ 

“They’re arming cannons!” Snap’s voice cuts through, urgent. “Signal just went out! We’ve got to get out of range!” 

“No -“ Finn whispers. “No, no no no.” 

“Commander!” Leia says, voice clear even though worry is creasing her brows. “Get out of range and get out of there! Get above atmosphere and hit hyperdrive! Do not engage!” 

“They’re coming from above, we’re gonna have to blast through -“ 

There’s nothing but the sound of blasting and cursing for a few awful minutes, the pilots all shouting at each other to roll right, watch your left, I’ve got you. 

And then - 

Jessika’s voice crackles through, panicked. “Poe, on your -“ 

There’s the sharp clip of a comm going dead, leaving painful, vacuous silence in its wake. 

Another comm crackles back to life. 

“Black One is hit!” Snap’s voice breaks, coming through as a terrified shout, the comms skipping with blaster bursts. “We’ve got to - down - I can’t -“ 

“Black two!” Leia shouts. “Black two, do you copy?” 

“Black One is hit -“ Snap repeats, breathless. “No ejection I can see, I’m going after him -“ 

“No,” Finn is standing, and he feels like he’s going to be sick. He slams his hand on the comm button. “No, no! Please, no! Poe, do you copy? Please, fuck - Poe! Can you hear me?” 

“Finn -“ and it’s Poe’s voice. He sounds breathless, hurt, the word coming out on a pained grunt. “Finn - hear me? - I’m - down and I can’t -“ 

His voice is punctuated by awful snaps and pops of the comm barely functioning. 

“Finn I - you okay? Never forget that I -“ 

And then it goes dead. 

“Does anyone copy?” Leia demands, the room painfully quiet. “Black two, do you copy? Black three?” 

Silence. Awful silence that seems to stretch for hours. 

Jessika’s voice comes through, so much quieter than before. She’s tougher than anyone Finn knows, but now her voice is thick with tears. 

“Black Leader is down.” 

-

Finn doesn’t remember sitting down, doesn’t remember anything after hearing the four words that shattered his world apart. 

Black Leader is down. 

Poe. His Poe. His first and only love. His heart. 

Absently, he registers the awful sound of someone crying. It’s the worst kind of cry, the one that can’t be stopped, can’t be comforted. It’s grief and heartbreak and pain so awful you wouldn’t wish it on anyone. 

It takes him a moment to realize it’s coming from him. 

General Organa is holding him so tightly, rocking him against her like he’s a child even though he’s probably twice her size. This is what it’s like to have a mother, he thinks. 

“We’ve got you, Finn,” she whispers, tears running down her own face. She loved Poe like a son, they all knew that. “We have you, we’re all here with you.” 

“They’ve hit lightspeed, General,” someone says quietly after a long while. “They’re on their way home.” 

-

The whole base is out on the tarmac when Black Two and Black Three come down, everyone shattered by the news. The best pilot in the resistance, gone. Poe Dameron, larger than life, gone. 

Which is why no one is expecting it when Snap is suddenly shouting from the cockpit of Black Two, the space crowded by another body. 

“I need a med-unit, now!” He’s shouting. “Now!” 

Finn stands up, knees weak. “Who is that?” He rasps. “Who is that, who does he have -“ 

“It’s Poe!” Someone shouts, a med droid and unit whizzing past to the X-Wing. “They got him, it’s Poe!” 

Finn is running before he realizes it, sprinting towards the X-Wing with everything he has left. He can see Poe’s body being carefully brought down from the fighter, limp and bloody onto the med-unit. 

“Poe -“ he’s reaching out, taking his hand. His knuckles are cut, blood caked to the callouses on his palms. “Poe, can you hear me?” 

He’s running alongside the med-unit, the droid scanning his unconscious body. 

“Vitals weak,” it intones. “Immediate attention needed.” 

Dr. Kalonia meets them at the hangar, climbing right onto the med-unit and slicing through Poe’s flightsuit. 

“Meet us in the med bay,” she says, gently detaching Finn’s grip on Poe’s hand, the unit still moving. “I have to take him right now.” 

Before Finn can protest, they’re speeding off. His knees hit the ground before he can blink, all the strength leaving him in a rush. 

It’s, amazingly, BB-8 who reaches him first. The little droid is scorched and banged up, but he nudges Finn, beeping softly. 

“Oh buddy,” his voice breaks, eyes burning with tears. He leans into him. “What are we gonna do?” 

-

He walks to the med bay on shaking legs with General Organa at his side, her calm steadfast presence the only thing keeping him from running full tilt towards Poe. 

“We’ve got to be strong,” she says to him, squeezing his hand. “For Poe. He needs you right now.” 

Finn nods, swallowing against the black hole in his chest. If he let it, he thinks it would swallow him entirely. 

Behind the glass of the med bay, Poe is laid bare on the table aside from a thick white fabric across his hips. Both Dr. Kalonia and the med droid are working fast to stop the bleeding down his left side. There’s already thick layers of bacta-gel on burns and cuts, and his hands are a mess of tubes and needles giving him fluid. 

“He’s going to make it,” Leia says softly, the two of them watching from behind the glass. “He’s strong. I can feel it.” 

Finn looks at her, eyes shining. “How can you know?” 

She lifts a hand to his cheek, brushing a tear away. “Because the Force is with him.” 

-

Finn doesn’t leave Poe’s side from the moment he’s allowed in the room to the moment the older man wakes. Well, he’s dragged out by Jessika over the two days Poe is in artificial sleep to shower and eat, but even that is battle hard won. 

“You’ll thank me when he doesn’t wake up thinking there’s a wampa in his room from the smell alone,” she says, smiling softly from the door of the med bay when she walks Finn back from dinner. 

He huffs a little laugh, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t smell that bad.” 

She gives him a look, turning on her heel and walking away with a flip of her black hair. 

“You didn’t smell great,” comes a raspy voice. 

Finn nearly falls off his chair he turns so fast, eyes immediately welling with tears. 

“Poe,” he whispers thickly, unable to keep the smile from his face. “You’re awake.” 

Poe smiles sleepily, lip still split from the crash. “What, did’ja miss me or something?” 

Finn just makes a broken noise, leaning over him and kissing him so softly, so gently. A tear drops on Poe’s cheek as he does it. 

“Don’t you ever do that again,” he whispers against his lips. “I swear, Poe, I thought I lost you and I can’t - I couldn’t -“ 

Poe lifts one of his hands to Finn’s neck, still weak and slow, but whole. 

“I promised I’d come back,” he murmurs, brown eyes half lidded but still bright as ever. “Nothin’ can keep me from coming home to you. Nothin’.”

Finn has no idea how long they stay like that, foreheads pressed together, precious words he never thought he’d get to say again passed between their lips. 

When Poe falls back asleep, Finn lets the relieved tears flow, fingers gently brushing through the thick curls on Poe’s head. 

Nothing can keep me from coming home to you. The words feel like they’re imprinted into his soul, into every piece of stardust he’s made of. He was made to be here, to be a person with a name, a person who loves. 

He kisses Poe’s knuckles and thanks the stars.


End file.
